News and notes from around the interweb:

• Potential deals between Star Alliance member Avianca and either Copa, United, or Delta involve tremendous drama (HT: Cranky Flier)

• Southwest Airlines started flying to Mexico only it didn’t actually have permission from the Mexican government to do so. There’s no legitimate reason for the withholding of that permission, and American Airlines is apparently in the same position with an announced Dallas-Merida flight whose launch is now delayed. But American didn’t actually commence service on the route. Though Wandering Aramean says Southwest has now gotten its permissions.

  

• American Airlines LAX Update:

  

• Photos of Delta’s refreshed Sky Club in Raleigh

• With United having announced details of their new Basic Economy fares that won’t allow customers without elite status or a co-brand credit card to bring on a full size carry-on bag, and with American set to announce details of their own Basic Economy fares soon, it’s worth revisiting JetBlue’s comments on Basic Economy from Executive Vice President Marty St. George — essentially that it’s not a good idea to spend time figuring out ways to make your product worse for customers.

  “We still want to make sure that when a customer walks on a JetBlue airplane, no matter where they sit, they will have the best experience of any airline,” St. George said. “A strategy that dumbs that down and impacts the value proposition is on the surface not very attractive to us.”

• Helsinki airport celebrates the Badass Travelers willing to brave it in winter